The Hindu : West Zone 334 for eight

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 20, 2002

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Sport - Cricket

West Zone 334 for eight
By Our Special Correspondent

PUNE, MARCH 19. West's 334 for eight wickets against a perseverant North in a single day in which it got to bat for an extra 18 minutes ought to be regarded as a par effort. Playing at a venue where batsmen have ruled the roost over the bowlers here at the Maharashtra's Swargate patch, the home team, not lined with star cricketers, did not pull its punches back in spite of losing wickets in a clutch and at regular intervals. It made a hundred plus in two of the three sessions on the first day of the second round matches of the inter-zonal Duleep Trophy match. It prospered the most in the third session making 137 runs in 34 overs, thanks to a scintillating unbeaten 66 (12x4s, 1x6) by left-hander Sairaj Bahutule.

Fresh from its massive 161-run win against Central in Rajkot last week, West went into the match in a positive frame of mind. Leaving out middle order batsman and Pune lad, Kaushik Aphale was a difficult decision to make, but with the powers that be dictating the selection of Saurashtra's Altaf Merchant (he made 32 against Central given the important position of No. 4 in the batting line-up), skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar was palpably powerless.

Left-arm seamer, Ashish Nehra, sharing the new ball with Vineet Sharma on a fresh first day pitch made an immediate impact. Team manager Sushil Kumar made it a point that the Delhi seamer was dehydrated and made weak by diarrhoea on Monday. In the circumstances, Nehra, who had bowled 41 overs in the second innings against South in Faridabad, was used in short bursts by skipper Mithun Manhas. Nehra did not look a fit man and left the field twice after his first spells of six overs each. Bowling off a few paces, Nehra, still managed to get the better of the openers, left-hander Connor Williams and Wasim Jaffer, the two dismissals separated by a little over two hours.

Williams played all over a swinging delivery to lose his off and middle stumps. Nehra's first six overs cost him 17 runs. After he was removed from the firing line, things became a little easier for the West batsmen.

Though not sure while picking the line and edging a couple of drives in the first hour, Jaffer showed fine temperament and played some handsome strokes off seamer Sharma whom he struck for three fours, the second bringing into play the bottom hand while forcing the bowler off the backfoot.

Jaffer saw Williams depart at 17, skipper Kanitkar at 67 and Altaf Merchant at 68, before he forged a 71-run stand with Vinod Kambli. He had executed a few lovely onside shots before Nehra baffled him with a superb yorker and knocked back his middle and offstumps.

Kambli, showed glimpses of his old magic against the two spinners, Sarandeep and Rahul Sanghvi, whom he thrashed for five of his seven boundaries, but paid the price coming down the pitch and attempting an airy-fairy shot off Sarandeep.

The exit of Jaffer (78, 13x4s) had brought in Nayan Mongia and he made a solid 76 (14x4s, 1x6) with strokes flowing in the latter part his near three-hour essay. Trying to step up the scoring he stepped out, missed the line and was bowled by part time off-spinner and North captain Mithun Manhas who bagged three wickets in a dozen overs.

At tea, North seemed to enjoy the upper hand but first Mongia and Ajit Bhoite and subsequently Bahutule gained ground for their side. There were days when Bahutule did not appear as playing second fiddle to the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Kambli in the matter of clearing the ball for sixes at the Wankhede. After the departure of Mongia, the left-hander broke free and hit Sanghvi out of the attack. His onside shots kept in the ground was a treat to watch. He hit Sanghvi for fours, one after another, and thereafter gave no respite to Sarandeep, who conceded 116 runs in 32 overs.

The second new ball claimed after 87 overs, saw the two left-handers - the second being Irfan Pathan (Jr) - pick up three fours (two off Nehra and one off Sharma). The ninth wicket stand looked bright with 38 runs added with promise of a few more to come on Wednesday morning.

The scores:

West Zone - 1st innings: C. Williams b Nehra 7, W. Jaffer b Nehra 78, H. Kanitkar c Dahiya b Sharma 11, A. Merchant c Manhas b Sarandeep 0, V. Kambli c Kanwaljit b Sarandeep 33, N. Mongia b Manhas 76, A. Bhoite c Chopra b Manhas 36, S. Bahutule (batting) 66, R. Powar b Manhas 0, I. Pathan (Jr) (batting) 7. Extras (b-6, lb-5, nb-9) 20. Total (for eight wkts. in 90 overs) 334.

Fall of wkts.: 1-17, 2-67, 3-68, 4-138, 5-138, 6-215, 7-270, 8-296.

North Zone bowling: Sharma 15-4-64-1, Nehra 18-2-60-2, Sarandeep 32-7-116-2, Sanghvi 13-1-64-0, Manhas 12-4-19-3.

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